Join other members of the Ignatian family for a series of online workshops about Alta Gracia, a living-wage union-made apparel initiative rooted in a decade of student and worker organizing!

Thanks to more than a decade of cross-border collaborations between workers in the Dominican Republic and campus communities in the US led by United Students Against Sweatshops, Alta Gracia brings living-wage college-logo t-shirts and hoodies to hundreds of college campuses. We want to see more! Help us bring a meaningful amount toyour campus that will support workers and signal to the industry: we want change!

Alta Gracia presents a new business model that sets a social responsibility standard above all other brands in the collegiate market by paying a “living wage”. Set at more than three-times the Dominican minimum wage and based on a cost of living study conducted by independent labor rights watchdog Workers Rights Consortium this “salario digno” enables workers to support their families with dignity, covering food, housing, transportation, health care and education costs for their children. The ripple effect in the community is impressive: new businesses have opened across from the factory, construction has picked up as workers invest in more livable homes, and not just children but Alta Gracia workers themselves are going back to school to continue where poverty had forced them to abandon studies. At Alta Gracia, workers enjoy top health and safety standards at work and a union – a voice on the job. WRC has unrestricted access to the factory and regularly consults with workers in the community to ensure accountability. You can also read “Will College Loyalty Embrace ‘Living Wage’ Sweatshirts?”, a research study written by John Kline, Ph.D. (Georgetown University).

Help transform the global apparel industry and the lives of workers and their families in Villa Altagracia. Join us for a workshop and get involved to bring a substantial amount of Alta Gracia to your campus. The more living-wage union-made apparel our schools sell, the more people are able to benefit – not only are workers in Villa Altagracia empowered by this brand, but more living-wage union-made apparel in our bookstores means less of less responsible brands. It sends a clear message that can shape the wider industry – students demand respectful treatment of workers.

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The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) is a national social justice network inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. ISN was founded in 2004 and is a lay-led 501(c)3 organization working in partnership with Jesuit universities, high schools, and parishes, along with many other Catholic institutions and social justice partners.